Morung Express News
Zunheboto | May 1
The roads of Zunheboto Town are not traffic worthy. So far no one from the town community, municipalities or other authorities have paid any attention to either laying good roads or mending them.
“Gutters on the sides of the streets are common in the State and they emit a foul smell,” said a citizen of Zunheboto who has been following the issue and is familiar with many such roads of Nagaland State. According to another, proper town planning, which is must, is nonexistent.
The roads of Zunheboto district have not been properly maintained for almost 14 years. The roads within Zunheboto district are not good enough to be called National highway/State highway and all major district roads, expect the road from Krimuitomi junction to Doyang Bridge and from Lumami (Nagaland University) to Mokokchung.
“How much will be spend to repair our cars due to bad roads?” wondered Hokali Chishi of the Green Club. “We should repair the roads to cut short this expenditure.”
Bad roads give way to accidents—a pothole and stagnating water is never too far away. “Good roads should be laid for the safety of vehicles and persons travelling in it,” said an elder of Zunheboto Town.
“No matter how the government maintains or brings development, town planning is a must, with drainage, sewage systems etc incorporated. The government authorities and the people are generally accused of having no civic sense. There are large scale complaints that in many places, the streets are not maintained properly either by the people or the government. Both have equal responsibility in keeping streets and roads in good condition,” said a member of Zunheboto Town Youth organisation (ZTYO) that has been working in the arena of since 2010.
Road Blocks
According to the All Sumi Students’ Union (SKK) the National Highway is worst in Zunheboto district due to the failure of the two lane Chakabama – Zunheboto project. Taxation is the one of the setbacks that has led to the current state of the project, apart from land ownership problems.
“People have not been ready to give land for development. Also, the State Government has not come up with a comprehensive compensation package to put their minds at ease. Even when compensation is given, land owners don’t get the whole amount due to corruption,” a member of the SKK noted.
Corruption takes other forms. There is “low specification given on projects and less execution of contract work.” According to General Secretary of SKK, “Implementation and execution of all contract work under right specification in all Sumi inhabited areas could bring change.”
He maintained, however, that NGOs and government officials are not the only ones responsible, but every individual is responsible as well.
Mughalu, Junior Engineer, Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department, reasoned that this is the result of “collective failure of our State Government, concerned department/ implementing agency, NGOs and land ownership problems.”
For him, it is our right to have and demand proper road, for better connectivity and development.
